UNSELFISHNESS AND HELPFULNESS.
It must never be forgotten that the position a man occupies at the
close of his life is not an infallible criterion of whether he has
got on in the world. There are some places in the world's history so
illustrious that to occupy them it would be worth dying in poverty
and misery. Ambition might well choose to be remembered with
gratitude by succeeding generations and to have an immortal name,
even if to attain it everything were sacrificed that is counted
desirable in life. Who would not surrender wealth and ease and
luxury, if in exchange for them he could leave such a name as
Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, John Brown, Livingstone or Howard?
Posthumous glory counts for something in the reckoning. And this is
often attained by self-sacrifice. Revile the world as we may, it does
not forget the men who have done it service. The men who have
forgotten themselves, who have not striven after their own advantage,
but have devoted their lives to the good of humanity, achieve
immortality. They get on in the world in the sense of receiving a
crown that cannot fade and a glory outshining that of kings and
millionaires. The hero has a reward all his own and he may well
renounce the lower rewards of riches and ease to gain it. But his
qualities must be heroic or he will make his sacrifices to no
purpose. He must be true to himself at all cost. Washington was a
brilliant example of this fidelity to his ideal. Sparks tells us that
when he clearly saw his duty before him, he did it at all hazards,
and with inflexible integrity. He did not do it for effect; nor did
he think of glory, or of fame and its rewards; but of the right thing
to be done, and the best way of doing it.
Yet Washington had a most modest opinion of himself; and when offered
the chief command of the American patriot army he hesitated to accept
it until it was pressed upon him. When acknowledging in Congress the
honor which had been done him in selecting him to so important a
trust, on the execution of which the future of his country in a great
measure depended, Washington said: "I beg it may be remembered, lest
some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, that I
this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself
equal to the command I am honored with."
And in his letter to his wife, communicating to her his appointment
as commander-in-chief, he said: "I have used very endeavor in my
power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you
and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too
great for my capacity; and that I should enjoy more real happiness in
one month with you at home than I have the most distant prospect of
finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven times seven years. But,
as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this
service, I shall hope that my undertaking is designed for some good
purpose. It was utterly out of my power to refuse the appointment,
without exposing my character to such censures as would have
reflected dishonor upon myself, and given pain to my friends. This, I
am sure, could not, and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and must
have lessened me considerably in my own esteem."
Washington pursued his upright course through life, first as
commander-in-chief, and afterward as President, never faltering in
the path of duty. He had no regard for popularity, but held to his
purpose through good and through evil report, often at the risk of
his power and influence. Thus, on one occasion, when the ratification
of a treaty, arranged by Mr. Jay with Great Britain, was in question,
Washington was urged to reject it. But his honor, and the honor of
his country, was committed, and he refused to do so. A great outcry
was raised against the treaty, and for a time Washington was so
unpopular that he is said to have been actually stoned by the mob.
But he, nevertheless, held it to be his duty to ratify the treaty;
and it was carried out in despite of petitions and remonstrances from
all quarters. "While I fell," he said, in answer to the remonstrants,
"the most lively gratitude for the many instances of approbation from
my country, I can no otherwise deserve it than by obeying the
dictates of my conscience."
When the Oregon, coming along the Atlantic coast, was struck in the
middle of the night by that coaster, and a great wound was made in
her side, through which the water was pouring, Captain Murray stood
on the bridge as calm, apparently, as a May morning, and waited until
every passenger was off, and every officer was off, and every man on
the crew was off, and the last man to step from the sinking ship was
the captain himself; and ten minutes after he stepped off, the
steamer gave a quiver, as of apprehension, and then plunged to the
bottom of the ocean. The steamer was his, and the men were his, and
the boats were his, and the passengers were his, all for this: that
he might save them in time of peril; and he would go down to the
bottom of the ocean rather than that, by his recreancy, one of those
entrusted to him should perish. This was the true hero, the man who
would die rather than be false to duty.
One of the most striking instances that could be given of the
character of the dutiful, truthful, laborious man, who works on
bravely in spite of difficulty and physical suffering, is presented
in the life of the late George Wilson, Professor of Technology in the
University of Edinburgh. Wilson's life was, indeed, a marvel of
cheerful laboriousness; exhibiting the power of the soul to triumph
over the body, and almost to set it at defiance. It might be taken as
an illustration of the saying of the whaling-captain to Dr. Kane, as
to the power of moral force over physical: "Bless you, sir, the soul
will any day lift the body out of its boots!"
A fragile but bright and lively boy, he had scarcely entered manhood
ere his constitution began to exhibit signs of disease. As early,
indeed, as his seventeenth year, he began to complain of melancholy
and sleeplessness, supposed to be the effects of bile. "I don't think
I shall live long," he then said to a friend; "my mind will--must
work itself out, and the body will soon follow it." A strange
confession for a boy to make! But he gave his physical health no fair
chance. His life was all brain work, study, and competition. When he
took exercise it was in sudden bursts, which did him more harm than
good. Long walks in the Highlands jaded and exhausted him; and he
returned to his brain-work unrested and unrefreshed.
It was during one of his forced walks of some twenty-four miles, in
the neighborhood of Stirling, that he injured one of his feet, and he
returned home seriously ill. The result was an abscess, disease of
the ankle-joint, and a long agony, which ended in the amputation of
the right foot. But he never relaxed in his labors. He was now
writing, lecturing and teaching chemistry. Rheumatism and acute
inflammation of the eye next attacked him, and were treated by
cupping, blistering, and colchicum. Unable himself to write, he went
on preparing his lectures, which he dictated to his sister. Pain
haunted him day and night, and sleep was only forced by morphia.
While in this state of general prostration symptoms of pulmonary
disease began to show themselves. Yet he continued to give the weekly
lectures to which he stood committed to the Edinburgh School of Arts.
Not one was shirked, though their delivery, before a large audience,
was a most exhausting duty. "Well, there's another nail put into my
coffin," was the remark made on throwing off his top-coat on
returning home; and a sleepless night almost invariably followed.
At twenty-seven, Wilson was lecturing ten, eleven, or more hours
weekly, usually with setons or open blister-wounds upon him--his
"bosom friends," he used to call them. He felt the shadow of death
upon him, and he worked as if his days were numbered. "Don't be
surprised," he wrote to a friend, "if any morning at breakfast you
hear that I am gone." But while he said so, he did not in the least
degree indulge in the feeling of sickly sentimentality. He worked on
as cheerfully and hopefully as if in the very fullness of strength.
"To none," said he, "is life so sweet as to those who have lost all
fear of dying."
Sometimes he was compelled to desist from his labors by sheer
debility, occasioned by loss of blood from the lungs; but after a few
weeks' rest and change of air, he would return to his work, saying,
"The water is rising in the well again!" Though disease had fastened
on his lungs, and was spreading there, and though suffering from a
distressing cough, he went on lecturing as usual. To add to his
troubles, when one day endeavoring to recover himself from a stumble
occasioned by his lameness, he overstrained his arm, and broke the
bone near the shoulder. But he recovered from his successive
accidents and illnesses in the most extraordinary way. The reed bent,
but did not break; the storm passed, and it stood erect as before.
There was no worry, nor fever, nor fret about him; but instead,
cheerfulness, patience and unfailing perseverance. His mind, amidst
all his sufferings, remained perfectly calm and serene. He went about
his daily work with an apparently charmed life, as if he had the
strength of many men in him. Yet all the while he knew he was dying,
his chief anxiety being to conceal his state from those about him at
home, to whom the knowledge of his actual condition would have been
inexpressibly distressing. "I am cheerful among strangers," he said,
"and try to live day by day as a dying man."
He went on teaching as before--lecturing to the Architectural
Institutes and to the School of Arts. One day, after a lecture before
the latter institute, he lay down to rest, and was shortly awakened
by the rupture of a blood-vessel, which occasioned him the loss of a
considerable quantity of blood. He did not experience the despair and
agony that Keats did on a like occasion, though he equally knew that
the messenger of death had come, and was waiting for him. He appeared
at the family meals as usual, and next day he lectured twice,
punctually fulfilling his engagements; but the exertion of speaking
was followed by a second attack of hemorrhage. He now became
seriously ill, and it was doubted whether he would survive the night.
But he did survive; and during his convalescence he was appointed to
an important public office--that of director of the Scottish
Industrial Museum, which involved a great amount of labor, as well as
lecturing, in his capacity of professor of technology, which he held
in connection with the office.
From this time forward, his "dear museum," as he called it, absorbed
all his surplus energies. While busily occupied in collecting models
and specimens for the museum, he filled up his odds-and-ends of time
in lecturing in Ragged Schools and Medical Missionary Societies. He
gave himself no rest, either of mind or body; and "to die working"
was the fate he envied. His mind would not give in, but his poor body
was forced to yield, and a sever attack of hemorrhage--bleeding from
both lungs and stomach--compelled him to relax in his labors. "For a
month, or some forty days," he wrote--"a dreadful Lent--the wind has
blown geographically from 'Araby the blest,' but thermometrically
from Iceland the accursed. I have been made a prisoner of war, hit by
an icicle in the lungs, and have shivered and burned alternately for
a large portion of the last month, and spat blood till I grew pale
with coughing. Now I am better, and to-morrow I give my concluding
lecture (on technology), thankful that I have contrived,
notwithstanding all my troubles, to early on without missing a
lecture to the last day of the Faculty of Arts, to which I belong."
How long was it to last? He himself began to wonder, for he had long
felt his life as if ebbing away. At length he became languid, weary,
and unfit for work; even the writing of a letter cost him a painful
effort, and he felt "as if to lie down and sleep were the only things
worth doing." Yet shortly after, to help a Sunday school, he wrote
his "Five Gateways of Knowledge," as a lecture, and afterward
expanded it into a book. He also recovered strength sufficient to
enable him to proceed with his lectures to the institutions to which
he belonged, besides on various occasions undertaking to do other
people's work. "I am looked upon as being as mad," he wrote to his
brother, "because on a hasty notice, I took a defaulting lecturer's
place at the Philosophical Institution, and discoursed on the
polarization of light . . . But I like work: it is a family
weakness."
Then followed chronic _malaise_--sleepless nights, days of pain, and
more spitting of blood. "My only painless moments." he says, "were
when lecturing." In this state of prostration and disease, the
indefatigable man undertook to write the "Life of Edward Forbes;" and
he did it, like every thing he undertook, with admirable ability. He
proceeded with his lectures as usual. To an association of teachers
he delivered a discourse on the educational value of industrial
science. After he had spoken to his audience for an hour, he left
them to say whether he should go on or not, and they cheered him on
to another half-hour's address. "It is curious," he wrote, "the
feeling of having an audience, like clay in your hands, to mould for
a season as you please. It is a terribly responsible power . . . I do
not mean for a moment to imply that I am indifferent to the good
opinion of others--far otherwise; but to gain this is much less a
concern with me than to deserve it. It was not so once. I had no wish
for unmerited praise, but I was too ready to settle that I did merit
it. Now, the word DUTY seems to me the biggest word in the world, and
is uppermost in all my serious doings."
That was written only about four months before his death. A little
later he wrote: "I spin my thread of life from week to week, rather
than from year to year." Constant attacks of bleeding from the lungs
sapped his little remaining strength, but did not altogether disable
him from lecturing. He was amused by one of his friends proposing to
put him under trustees for the purpose of looking after his health.
But he would not be restrained from working so long as a vestige of
strength remained.
One day, in the autumn of 1859, he returned from his customary
lecture in the University of Edinburgh with a severe pain in his
side. He was scarcely able to crawl up stairs. Medical aid was sent
for, and he was pronounced to be suffering from pleurisy and
inflammation of the lungs. His enfeebled frame was ill able to resist
so severe a disease, and he sank peacefully to the rest he so longed
for, after a few days' illness.
The life of George Wilson--so admirably and affectionately related by
his sister--is probably one of the most marvelous records of pain and
long-suffering, and yet of persistent, noble and useful work, that is
to be found in the whole history of literature.
Instances of this heroic quality of self-forgetfulness in the
interest of others are more frequent than we realize. Dr. Louis
Albert Banks mentions the following illustration: "The other day, in
one of our cities, two small boys signaled a street-car. When the car
stopped it was noticed that one boy was lame. With much solicitude
the other boy helped the cripple aboard, and, after telling the
conductor to go ahead, returned to the sidewalk. The lame boy braced
himself up in his seat so that he could look out of the car window,
and the other passengers observed that at intervals the little fellow
would wave his hand and smile. Following the direction of his
glances, the passengers saw the other boy running along the sidewalk,
straining every muscle to keep up with the car. They watched his
pantomime in silence for a few blocks, and then a gentleman asked the
lame boy who the other boy was: 'My brother,' was the prompt reply.
'Why does he not ride with you in the car?' was the next question.
'Because he hasn't any money,' answered the lame boy, sorrowfully.
But the little runner--running that his crippled brother might ride--
had a face in which sorrow had no part, only the gladness of a self-
denying soul. O my brother, you who long to do great service for the
King and reach life's noblest triumph, here is your picture--willing
to run that the crippled lives may ride, willing to bear one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ--that is the
spirit of the King's country."
"The path of service is open to all, nay, we stumble on to the path
daily without knowing it. Ivan Tourguenieff, in one of his beautiful
poems in prose, says, 'I was walking in the street; a beggar stopped
me--a frail old man. His inflamed, tearful eyes, blue lips, rough
rags, disgusting sores--oh, how horribly poverty had disfigured the
unhappy creature! He stretched out to me his red, swollen, filthy
hands; he groaned and whimpered for alms. I felt in all my pockets;
no purse, watch, or handkerchief did I find; I had left them all at
home. The beggar waited, and his outstretched hand twitched and
trembled. Embarrassed and confused, I seized his dirty hand and
pressed it. 'Don't be vexed with me, brother; I have nothing with me,
brother.' The beggar raised his bloodshot eyes to mine; his blue lips
smiled, and he returned the pressure of my chilled fingers. 'Never
mind, brother,' stammered he; 'thank you for this--this, too, was a
gift, brother.' I felt that I, too, had received a gift from my
brother. This is a line of service open to us all."
A gentleman writing to the Chicago _Interior_, relates this incident
in his own career as a prosecuting attorney: a boy of fifteen was
brought in for trial. He had no attorney, no witnesses and no
friends. As the prosecuting attorney looked him over, he was pleased
with his appearance. He had nothing of the hardened criminal about
him. In fact, he was impressed that the prisoner was an unusually
bright-looking little fellow. He found that the charge against him
was burglary. There had been a fire in a dry goods store, where some
of the merchandise had not been entirely consumed. The place had been
boarded up to protect, for the time being, the damaged articles.
Several boys, among them this defendant, had pulled off a board or
two, and were helping themselves to the contents of the place, when
the police arrived. The others got away, and this was the only one
caught. The attorney asked the boy if he wanted a jury trial. He said
"No;" that he was guilty, and preferred to plead guilty.
Upon the plea being entered, the prosecutor asked him where his home
was. He replied that he had no home.
"Where are your parents?" was asked. He answered that they were both
dead.
"Have you no relatives?" was the next question.
"Only a sister, who works out," was the answer.
"How long have you been in jail?"
"Two months."
"Has anyone been to see you during that time?"
"No, sir."
The last answer was very like a sob. The utterly forlorn and
friendless condition of the boy, coupled with his frankness and
pleasing presence, caused a lump to come into the lawyer's throat,
and into the throats of many others, who were listening to the
dialogue. Finally the attorney suggested to the judge that it was a
pity to send the boy to the reformatory, and that what he needed more
than anything else was a home.
By this time the court officials, jurors and spectators had crowded
around, the better to hear what was being said. At this juncture one
of the jurors addressed the court, and said: "Your honor, a year ago
I lost my only boy. If he were alive, he would be about this boy's
age. Ever since he died I have been wanting a boy. If you will let me
have this little fellow, I'll give him a home, put him to work in my
printing establishment, and treat him as if he were my own son."
The judge turned to the boy, and said: "This gentleman is a
successful business man. Do you think, if you are given this splendid
opportunity, you can make a man of yourself?"
"I'll try," very joyfully answered the boy.
"Very well; sign a recognizance, and go with the gentleman," said the
judge.
A few minutes later the boy and his new friend left together, while
tears of genuine pleasure stood in many eyes in the crowded
courtroom. The lawyer, who signs his name to the story, declares that
the boy turned out well, and proved to be worthy of his benefactor's
kindness.
Deeds like that are waiting for the doing on every hand, and no man
gives himself up to this spirit of helpfulness for others without
strengthening his own life.
This spirit of self-forgetfulness and cheerful helpfulness is and
essential quality of the true heroic soul--the soul that is not
disturbed by circumstances, but goes on its way, strong and imparting
strength.
We have to be on our guard against small troubles, which, by
encouraging, we are apt to magnify into great ones. Indeed, the chief
source of worry in the world is not real but imaginary evil--small
vexations and trivial afflictions. In the presence of a great sorrow,
all petty troubles disappear; but we are too ready to take some
cherished misery to our bosom, and to pet it here. Very often it is
the child of our fancy; and, forgetful of the many means of happiness
which lie within our reach, we indulge this spoiled child of ours
until it masters us. We shut the door against cheerfulness, and
surround ourselves with gloom. The habit gives a coloring to our
life. We grow querulous, moody and unsympathetic. Our conversation
becomes full of regrets. We are harsh in our judgment of others. We
are unsociable, and think everybody else is so. We make our breast a
store-house of pain, which we inflict upon ourselves as well as upon
others.
This disposition is encouraged by selfishness; indeed, it is, for the
most part, selfishness unmingled, without any admixture of sympathy
or consideration for the feelings of those about us. It is simply
willfulness in the wrong direction. It is willful, because it might
be avoided. Let the necessitarians argue as they may, freedom of will
and action is the possession of every man and woman. It is sometimes
our glory, and very often it is our shame; all depends upon the
manner in which it is used. We can choose to look at the bright side
of things or at the dark. We can follow good and eschew evil
thoughts. We can be wrong-headed and wrong-hearted, or the reverse,
as we ourselves determine. The world will be to each one of us very
much what we make it. The cheerful are its real possessors, for the
world belongs to those who enjoy it.
It must, however, be admitted that there are cases beyond the reach
of the moralist. Once, when a miserable-looking dyspeptic called upon
a leading physician, and laid his case before him, "Oh!" said the
doctor, "you only want a good hearty laugh: go and see Grimaldi."
"Alas!" said the miserable patient, "I am Grimaldi!" So, when
Smollett, oppressed by disease, traveled over Europe in the hope of
finding health, he saw everything through his own jaundiced eyes.
The restless, anxious, dissatisfied temper, that is ever ready to run
and meet care half-way, is fatal to all happiness and peace of mind.
How often do we see men and women set themselves about as if with
stiff bristles, so that one dare scarcely approach them without fear
of being pricked! For want of a little occasional command over one's
temper, and amount of misery is occasioned in society which is
positively frightful. Thus enjoyment is turned into bitterness, and
life becomes like a journey barefooted among thorns and briers and
prickles. "Though sometimes small evils," says Richard Sharp, "like
invisible insects, inflict great pain, and a single hair may stop a
vast machine, yet the chief secret of comfort lies in not suffering
trifles to vex us; and in prudently cultivating and under-growth of
small pleasures, since very few great ones, alas! are let on long
leases."
Cheerfulness also accompanies patience, which is one of the main
conditions of happiness and success in life. "He that will be
served," says George Herbert, "must be patient." It was said of the
cheerful and patient King Alfred that "good fortune accompanied him
like a gift of God." Marlborough's expectant calmness was great, and
a principal secret of his success as a general. "Patience will
overcome all things," he wrote to Godolphin, in 1702. In the midst of
a great emergency, while baffled and opposed by his allies, he said,
"Having done all that is possible, we should submit with patience."
One of the chiefest of blessings is Hope, the most common of
possessions; for, as Thales that philosopher said, "Even those who
have nothing else have hope." Hope is the great helper of the poor.
It has even been styled "the poor man's bread." It is also the
sustainer and inspirer of great deeds. It is recorded of Alexander
the Great that, when he succeeded to the throne of Macedon, he gave
away among his friends the greater part of the estates which his
father had left him; and when Perdiccas asked him what he reserved
for himself, Alexander answered, "The greatest possession of all--
Hope!"
The pleasures of memory, however great, are stale compared with those
of hope; for hope is the parent of all effort and endeavor; and
"every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual
breath." It may be said to be the moral engine that moves the world
and keeps it in action; and at the end of all there stands before us
what Robertson of Ellon styled "The Great Hope."
The qualities of the strong self-reliant man are sometimes
accompanied by a brusqueness of manner that leas others to misjudge
them. As Knox was retiring from the queen's presence on one occasion
he overheard one of the royal attendants say to another, "He is not
afraid!" Turning round upon them, he said: "And why should the
pleasing face of a gentleman frighten me? I have looked on the faces
of angry men, and yet have not been afraid beyond measure." When the
Reformer, worn out by excess of labor and anxiety, was at length laid
to his rest, the regent, looking down into the open grave, exclaimed
in words which made a strong impression from their aptness and truth--
"There lies he who never feared the face of man!"
Luther also was thought by some to be a mere compound of violence and
ruggedness. But, as in the case of Knox, the times in which he lived
were rude and violent, and the work he had to do could scarcely have
been accomplished with gentleness and suavity. To rouse Europe from
its lethargy, he had to speak and write with force, and even
vehemence. Yet Luther's vehemence was only in words. His apparently
rude exterior covered a warm heart. In private life he was gentle,
loving and affectionate. He was simple and homely, even to
commonness. Fond of all common pleasures and enjoyments, he was any
thing but an austere man or a bigot; for he was hearty, genial, and
even "jolly." Luther was the common people's hero in his lifetime,
and he remains so in Germany to this day.
Samuel Johnson was rude and often gruff in manner. But he had been
brought up in a rough school. Poverty in early life had made him
acquainted with strange companions. He had wandered in the streets
with Savage for nights together, unable between them to raise money
enough to pay for a bed. When his indomitable courage and industry at
length secured for him a footing in society, he still bore upon him
the scars of his early sorrow and struggles. He was by nature strong
and robust, and his experience made him unaccommodating and self-
asserting. When he was once asked why he was not invited to dine out
as Garrick was, he answered, "Because great lords and ladies do not
like to have their mouths stopped;" and Johnson was a notorious
mouth-stopper, though what he said was always worth listening to.
Johnson's companions spoke of him as "Ursa Major;" but, as Goldsmith
generously said of him, "No man alive has a more tender heart; he has
nothing of the bear about him but his skin." The kindliness of
Johnson's nature was shown on one occasion by the manner in which he
assisted a supposed lady in crossing Fleet street. He gave her his
arm and led her across, not observing that she was in liquor at the
time. But the spirit of the act was not the less kind on that
account. On the other hand, the conduct of the book-seller on whom
Johnson once called to solicit employment, and who, regarding his
athletic but uncouth person, told him he had better "go buy a
porter's knot and carry trunks," in howsoever bland tones the advice
might have been communicated, was simply brutal.
While captiousness of manner, and the habit of disputing and
contradicting everything said, is chilling and repulsive, the
opposite habit of assenting to, and sympathizing with, every
statement made, or emotion expressed, is almost equally disagreeable.
It is unmanly, and is felt to be dishonest. "It may seem difficult,"
says Richard Sharp, "to steer always between bluntness and plain-
dealing, between giving merited praise and lavishing indiscriminate
flattery; but it is very easy--good humor, kind heartedness and
perfect simplicity, being all that are requisite to do what is right
in the right way."
At the same time many are unpolite, not because they mean to be so,
but because they are awkward, and perhaps know no better. Thus, when
Gibbon had published the second and third volumes of his "Decline and
Fall," the Duke of Cumberland met him one day, and accosted him with,
"How do you do, Mr. Gibbon? I see you are always _at it_ in the old
way--_scribble, scribble, scribble_!" The duke probably intended to
pay the author a compliment, but did not know how better to do it
than in this blunt and apparently rude way.
Again, many persons are thought to be stiff, reserved and proud, when
they are only shy. Shyness is characteristic of most people of
Teutonic race. It has been styled "the English mania," but it
pervades, to a greater or less degree, all the Northern nations. The
average Frenchman or Irishman excels the average Englishman, German
or American in courtesy and ease of manner, simply because it is his
nature. They are more social and less self-dependent than men of
Teutonic origin, more demonstrative and less reticent; they are more
communicative, conversational, and freer in their intercourse with
each other in all respects; while men of German race are
comparatively stiff, reserved, shy and awkward. At the same time, a
people may exhibit ease, gayety, and sprightliness of character, and
yet possess no deeper qualities calculated to inspire respect. They
may have every grace of manner, and yet be heartless, frivolous,
selfish. The character may be on the surface only, and without any
solid qualities for a foundation.
There can be no doubt as to which of the two sorts of people--the
easy and graceful, or the stiff and awkward--it is most agreeable to
meet either in business, in society, or in the casual intercourse of
life. Which make the fastest friends, the truest men of their word,
the most conscientious performers of their duty, is an entirely
different matter.
As an epitome of good sound advice as to getting on in the world
there has probably been nothing written so forcible, quaint and full
of common sense a the following preface to an old Pennsylvanian
Almanac, entitled "Poor Richard Improved," by the great philosopher,
Benjamin Franklin. It is homely, simple, sensible and practical--a
condensation of the proverbial wit, wisdom and every-day philosophy,
useful at all times, and essentially so in the present day:
"COURTEOUS READER--I have heard that nothing gives an author so great
pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by others. Judge,
then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident I am going
to relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number of
people were collected at an auction of merchants' goods. The hour of
the sale not being come, they were conversing on the badness of the
times, and one of the company called to a plain, clean old man with
white locks, 'Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times? Will
not these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever be
able to pay them? What would you advise us to do?' Father Abraham
stood up, and replied: 'If you would have my advice I will give it
you in short, for, A word to the wise is enough, as poor Richard
says.' They joined in desiring him to speak his mind, and gathering
round him, he proceeded as follows:
"'Friends, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by
the government were the only ones we had to pay we might more easily
discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to
some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times
as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from
these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us, by allowing
an abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, and something
may be done for us. God helps them that help themselves, as poor
Richard says.
"'I. It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people
one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; but
idleness taxes many of use more; sloth, by bringing on diseases,
absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than
labor wears; while, The used key is always bright, as poor Richard
says. But, Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that
is the stuff life is made of, as poor Richard says. How much more
than is necessary do we spend in sleep! forgetting that, The sleeping
fox catches no poultry; and that, There will be sleeping in the
grave, as poor Richard says.
"'If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be,
as poor Richard says, the greatest prodigality; since, as he
elsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found again; and, What we call
time enough always proves little enough. Let us, then, be up and be
doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more,
and with less perplexity. Sloth makes all things difficult, but
industry all easy; and, He that riseth late must trot all day, and
shall scarce overtake his business at night; while, Laziness travels
so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. Drive thy business, let
not that drive thee; and Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy and wise, as poor Richard says.
"'So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times? We may make
these times better if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not risk,
and, He that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gains
without pains; then, Help, hands, for I have no lands; or, if I have,
they are smartly taxed. He that hath a trade, hath an estate; and, He
that hath a calling, hath an office of profit and honor, as poor
Richard says; but then the trade must be worked at, and the calling
followed, or neither the estate nor the office will enable us to pay
our taxes. If we are industrious we shall never starve; for, At the
working man's house, hunger looks in, but dares not enter. Nor will
the bailiff or the constable enter; for, Industry pays debts, while
despair increaseth them. What though you have found no treasure, nor
has any rich relation left you a legacy? Diligence is the mother of
good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then, plough deep,
while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and keep. Work
while it is called to-day, for you know not how much you may be
hindered to-morrow. One to-day is worth two to-morrows, as poor
Richard says; and, farther, never leave that till to-morrow that you
can do to-day. If you were a servant, would you not be shamed that a
good master would catch you idle? Are you then your own master, be
ashamed to catch yourself idle, when there is to be so much done for
yourself, your family, your country, and your king. Handle your tools
without mittens; remember that the cat in gloves catches no mice, as
poor Richard says. It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps
your are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see
great effects; for, Constant dropping wears away stones; and, By
diligence and patience the mouse at in two the cable; and, Little
strokes fell great oaks.
"'Methinks I hear some of you say, "Must a man afford himself no
leisure?" I will tell thee, my friend, what poor Richard says--Employ
thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are not
sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing
something useful. This leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the
lazy man never; for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two
things. Many, without labor, would live by their wits only, but they
break for want of stock; whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty,
and respect. Fly pleasures, and they will follow you. The diligent
spinner has a large shift; and, Now I have a sheep and a cow,
everybody bids me goodmorrow.
"'II. But with our industry we must likewise be steady, settled and
careful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust
to others; for, as poor Richard says--
"'I never saw an oft-removed tree,
Nor yet an oft-removed family,
That throve so well as those that settled be.
And again--Three removes as bad as a fire. And again--Keep thy
shop, and thy shop will keep thee. And again--If you would have your
business done, go; if not, send. And again--
"'He that by the plough would thrive
Himself must either hold or drive.
And again--The eye of a master will do more work than both his hands.
And again--Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge.
And again--Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open.
Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin of many; for, in the
affairs of this world, men are saved, not by faith, but by the want
of it. But a man's own care is profitable; for if you would have a
faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. A little
neglect may cause great mischief; For want of a nail the shoe was
lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the
rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy--all for want
of a little care about a horse-shoe nail.
"'III. So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own
business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our
industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to
save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone all his life, and
die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will; and
"'Many estates are spent in the getting,
Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,
And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.
If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting. The
Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than
her incomes.
"'Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not then have
so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable
families; for
"'Women and wine, game and deceit,
Make the wealth small and the want great.
"'And further--What maintains one vice would bring up two children.
You may think, perhaps, that a little tea, or a little punch, now and
then, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little
entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember--
Many a little makes a nickel. Beware of little expenses--A small leak
will sink a great ship, as poor Richard says. And moreover--Fools
make feasts, and wise men eat them.
"' Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries and nick-
nacks. You call them goods; but if you do not take care they will
prove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and
perhaps they may for less than they cost; but if you have no occasion
for them they must be dear to you. Remember what poor Richard says--
Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy
necessaries. And again--At a great pennyworth pause awhile. He means
that the cheapness is apparent only, and not real; or the bargain, by
straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm than good;
for in another place he says--Many have been ruined by buying good
pennyworths. Again--It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of
repentance; and yet this folly is practiced every day at auctions,
for want of minding the almanac. Many a one, for the sake of finery
on the back, has gone with a hungry belly and half-starved his
family. Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen
fire, as poor Richard says. These are not the necessaries of life;
they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only because
they look pretty, how many want to have them! By these, and other
extravagances, the genteel are reduced to poverty, and forced to
borrow of those whom they formerly despised, but who, through
industry and frugality, have maintained their standing; in which case
it appears plainly that, A ploughman on his legs is higher than a
gentleman on his knees, as poor Richard says. Perhaps they have had a
small estate left them, which they knew not the getting of; they
think it is day and will never be night; that a little to be spent
out of so much is not worth minding; but, Always taking out of the
meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to be the bottom, as poor
Richard says; and then, When the well is dry, they know the worth of
water. But this they might have know before if they had taken his
advice--If they would know the value of money, go and try to borrow
some; for, He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing, as poor Richard
says; and, indeed, so does he that lends to such people when he goes
to get his own in again. Poor dick further advises, and says:
"'Fond pride or dress is sure a very curse,
Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.
And again--Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more
saucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more,
that your appearance may be all of a piece; but poor Dick says, It is
easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow
it. And it is as truly folly for the poor to ape the rich, as for the
frog to swell in order to equal the ox.
"'Vessels large may venture more,
But little boats should keep near shore.
It is, however, a folly soon punished; for, as poor Richard says,
Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. Pride breakfasted with
plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. And, after all,
of what use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is risked,
so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, nor ease pain; it
makes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy; it hastens
misfortune.
"'But what madness must it be to run in debt for these superfluities!
We are offered, by the terms of this sale, six months credit; and
that, perhaps, has induced some of us to attend it, because we cannot
spare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But, ah!
think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another power
over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed
to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you
will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come to
lose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for, The
second vice is lying, the first is running in debt, as poor Richard
says; and again, to the same purpose, Lying rides upon debt's back . . .
"'And now, to conclude--Experience keeps a dear school, but fools
will learn in no other, as poor Richard says, and scarce in that;
for, it is true, We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
However, remember this--They that will not be counseled, cannot be
helped; and further, that, If you will not hear Reason, she will
surely rap your knuckles, as poor Richard says.'
"Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it and
approved the doctrine; and immediately practiced the contrary, just
as if it had been a common sermon, for the auctioneer opened, and
they began to buy extravagantly. I found the good man had thoroughly
studied my almanacs, and digested all I had dropt on these topics
during the course of twenty-five years."
The End.
End of Project Gutenberg's How to Get on in the World, by Major A.R. Calhoon